posted 29. July 201608:30
Have any of you watched Stranger Things on Netflix? I thought it was pretty good. It is set in the early 1980's. It was sort of like a cross between E.T. and Super 8. Not a whole lot of 80's music in it, they mainly used a synth score. Someone said they thought it was missing something. I think with the main cast being pre-teens, it needed a little bit more of a comedic element to it. It was all serious drama. Because you know that those pre-teens would've been up to some sort of shenanigans. . It is worth a watch. There are eight episodes total. I am wondering if Netflix will bring it back for a second season.
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posted 05. August 201618:27
Normally anything associated with the 80's grabs my attention. I've watched the first two episodes and I don't think it is great nor do I think it is bad. Right now I am unsure of the hype.
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posted 05. August 201618:31
JCU, it starts to pick up. I thought the first two episodes were slow moving. I was on the fence at first, but I am actually hoping for a season 2 now.
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posted 24. August 201608:29
I finally got around to watching the first episode. Pretty good. Not as good as it was hyped to be though. I will watch the next couple episodes and see if it gets better.
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posted 04. September 201615:11
I just watched the first two episodes over my in-laws and I quite enjoyed it,i thought it had a fairly decent 80s vibe to it and I heard Toto's Africa in the first episode and the Clash in episode 2 plus there's loads of movie posters on the kids walls Jaws,John Carpenter's The Thing,The Evil Dead etc which was cool!

When I said to my wife that's Winona Ryder she was like no way and I had to remind her that Heathers was like 28 years ago and she was like oh yeah!

posted 14. September 201620:57
This has to be one of the best Netflix series in some time. I can't wait for season 2 to show up all at once.
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Watched Stranger Things about a month ago - superb series, and one of the best TV shows I've ever seen - period. It obviously helps that I'm an '80's kid, and have fond memories of that era. I actually liked the show so much that I want to watch it again in the next couple of weeks.

I was amazed at how well The Duffer Bros. made this not only look like an '80's show, but also made it have the vibe/tone of an '80's series as well. If I hadn't known better, I would honestly have thought I was watching a recently-unearthed & long-lost series from that period:

The picture quality was similar to what you would have seen in an '80's TV series.

No elaborate editing cuts, etc. like you saw in the '90's - on films/TV shows.

Amazing '80's new wave soundtrack - just off the top of my head, I remember hearing: Modern English, Joy Division, Duran Duran, and many other great artists/songs from that era.

The synthesizer music - only in '80's TV series/movies would you have heard a soundtrack like this (maybe early '90's as well).

The effects were not obvious in your face CGI, but more subtle - i.e., similar to effects you would have seen in an '80's series/movie back in the day.

Re: the story, very compelling as well. It seemed like a combination of The Goonies, E.T., Labyrinth, and Alien/Aliens to some extent; it also brought to mind the '80's Twilight Zone & Amazing Stories TV series.

The main "monster" (that wasn't seen that much until the finale) was great, as was the "alternate universe" with the snow, etc.

Eleven was an amazing character! Very impressive acting here; the actress never said much, but conveyed a lot of emotion/feeling through her expressions/body language, etc.

It was refreshing that that the show's writers didn't go with the obvious cliché & have the outcast kid (with the camera) end up with the girl; I was slightly surprised that they had the jerk bully kid have a change of heart & get the girl at the end - but, again, it was nice to see a non-predictable ending here.

It was also a nice touch to have Winona Ryder & Matthew Modine as stars in the series, since they were well known '80's teen icons back in the day.
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posted 30. September 201608:34
Hi Nostalgic for the 80's. I hope you make it back here again soon! I am thinking a rewatch would be nice this weekend.
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quote:Originally posted by Pittsburghgirl: Hi Nostalgic for the 80's. I hope you make it back here again soon! I am thinking a rewatch would be nice this weekend.

Thanks very much. I just joined this site last week, and plan on visiting here regularly.

Re: Stranger Things, I definitely want to re-watch this again this Fall. However, there are so many new shows on that I'm watching that I will have to make it a point to fit this in somewhere...
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I'm looking forward to seeing it, but those things have my alarm bells ringing. I'm a massive stickler for things not being anachronistic, and one of the cardinal sins of most things 'set in the past' (to me) are when the people making it 'compress' history into convenient chunks. For example, when I watched '13 Going on 30' with Jennifer Garner, I got very irritated that a supposed 13 year old girl in 1987 had a poster of Rick Springfield on her wall. Was he a pin-up - yes. And 5 years earlier that poster would have been completely accurate, but by 1987 definitely not. So when I hear 'Jaws, Dark Crystal, Evil Dead posters', I wonder what year it's set, and whether this was really realistic. Jaws poster on a bedroom wall in the 80's? Not so sure. I remember very well that by the time the early 80's were underway, Jaws was very much seen as a 70's movie. Maybe a video poster for the video release, but that would be pushing it. Evil Dead was b-movie horror that took some time to build its reputation, and arguably got more famous as the decade wore on, so again - what year are we looking at?

I know that sounds nit-picky, but this series has some major props from different people for authenticity, and that's going to make me set my 'contextual anachronism' meter on high!

posted 22. October 201613:07
I see what you mean, but everything in the show "fits", as far as I can tell:

Evil Dead (the original) came out in very early 1983; Dark Crystal came out in Fall 1982; the original Jaws came out in 1975.

The show is set in 1983, so I can see some kids growing up in the early '80's having all of these posters in their rooms.

The soundtrack also seems accurate: Joy Division (a late '70's UK band), early '80's New Order & Duran Duran, Modern English, etc.

I do know what you mean about contradictions, however - the superb UK series "Life on Mars" was about a guy time-travelling back from the 200X's to 1974-ish; and, IIRC, some of the '70's music featured in the show hadn't yet been produced by that year...
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posted 12. November 201617:42
When it comes to the use of songs, i don't think it necessarily has to be accurate whether or not they fit the time periodin which the story takes place. For example, Baby It's You (1983) is set in 1966, but manages to throw in a couple ofBruce Springsteen songs that weren't released until 1973.. and in my opinion, it worked ! Posts: 2099 | From: The Netherlands | Registered: Jun 2011 | Site Updates: 0
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posted 13. November 201606:49
Thought it must have been set about 1983 because All The Right Moves was showing at there downtown movie theatre!

Watched it over my in laws every other Sunday so it took a few weeks to get through the 8 episode's but i did enjoy it,i think they've got Ash vs Evil Dead lined up next has anyone seen that?
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quote:When it comes to the use of songs, i don't think it necessarily has to be accurate whether or not they fit the time period in which the story takes place. For example, Baby It's You (1983) is set in 1966, but manages to throw in a couple of Bruce Springsteen songs that weren't released until 1973.. and in my opinion, it worked !

That's a taste thing. I don't remember that in 'Baby it's You' - I need to rewatch that one!

quote:Watched it over my in laws every other Sunday so it took a few weeks to get through the 8 episode's but i did enjoy it,i think they've got Ash vs Evil Dead lined up next has anyone seen that?

posted 17. November 201613:21
I am not sure if I mentioned it before, but Stranger Things did get signed to a second season! I don't know when it is due out on Netflix though.
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posted 18. February 201707:07
I have to say, I was very disappointed in Stranger Things. It was ok, but generally speaking it felt a little 'meh' to me. As to the whole 80's thing - it never once felt even slightly 80's to me. It was shot on digital - it looks like all modern programmes do. You can jam it with 80's references and music , etc, but it still looks and feels like a modern programme. As to those references, I read a review that summed up my feelings on it quite well: "The show feels less like a love-letter to the 80's, and more like a drunken late-night Tweet."

I've seen a picture from series 2 with the cast dressed as Ghostbusters, and again... why? It was an ok show, and I might like it better as it goes on, but at this point I don't feel particularly excited about it. Set in the 80's, not set in the 80's - it didn't really make a difference. The show was just ok to me.
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